About Montague Township, NJ & its Heritage: 2/1/13

Tenn. Gas Pipeline company = NJ Herald's Feb. 17th, 2013 Front page news:

By ERIC OBERNAUER eobernauer@njherald.com

MONTAGUE -- " One day after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission gave the go-ahead to begin cutting trees on George Feighner's property, Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. workers arrived Friday morning and began felling the first of hundreds of hemlock, pine, maple and oak trees on the hillside overlooking Feighner's home. Feighner, 87, has been fighting for more than a year against efforts by Tennessee Gas to have his Mountain Road property condemned under eminent domain for a right of way needed so it can begin laying a new pipeline there. But with chainsaws groaning under a clear sky on an otherwise springlike morning, Feighner forlornly conceded on Friday that his battle was all but lost.

...
Feighner still plans to mount an appeal in federal court, and three environmental groups -- the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, New Jersey Sierra Club and New Jersey Highlands Coalition -- have filed additional appeals of their own in federal court.
But despite the pending appeals, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Thursday denied requests by Feighner and by the environmental groups for an emergency stay of the variances and tree-clearing permits already granted. In rejecting their petitions, the court ruled that they had failed to satisfy the stringent legal
requirements for granting a stay while their appeals are being heard.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must still grant approval for construction of the project to proceed underneath the Upper Delaware River before the pipeline can be completed, and the state Department of Environmental Protection must also rule on five dewatering permits sought by Tennessee Gas for the temporary removal of water from
existing wells and aquifers where excavation related to the project is planned.
But regardless of how the unfolding legal drama plays out, Feighner admitted that any victory at this point would be of little comfort to him and his wife, Ruth, who have owned their home and adjoining farmhouse at the base of Kittatinny Ridge since 1982. Feighner said he had additional concerns about blasting to be done on the side of the
mountain overlooking his house where the pipeline will be laid. And he worries that the altering of the mountainside terrain could also be conducive to mudslides.
"I suppose we could still live in the house, but I don't know if we'll want to anymore," said Feighner, who recalled feeling "sick to my stomach" when he first heard the buzz of chainsaws early Friday morning.
Feighner said he was making the best of a bad situation by donating the harvested timber from the trees to the rebuilding of homes destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Earlier that morning, a neighbor offered to help collect the wood and have it donated to Habitat for Humanity. "I think it's great. It's the best thing that's happened this
morning," Feighner said with a shrug, adding that he didn't want Tennessee Gas to profit from the sale of his wood.
The pipeline that Tennessee Gas is building is part of the company's Northeast Upgrade Project, which will add 40 miles of transmission capacity to its existing pipeline network when complete. The project will install 17.2 miles of new pipeline from Pike County, Pa. to Vernon and another 7.6 miles from West Milford to Mahwah. The two sections would then be linked by an already completed 15-mile section
from Vernon to West Milford. The project, which will enable the transmission of additional quantities of natural gas from Marcellus Shale deposits in Pennsylvania, also will involve the upgrading of existing compressor and meter stations in Sussex, Passaic and Bergen counties.
A wrinkle in the plans will involve the building of a 7-mile jug-handle detour from Milford, Pa., to Montague. The detour is intended to avoid cutting through the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, which is controlled by the National Park Service. Feighner's property lies in the direct path of the jug-handle loop,
which he contends is unnecessary and could easily be avoided if Tennessee Gas simply used its existing right of way through the Park Service property where the company has an existing pipeline. But FERC, in approving the project last May, ruled that the legislation that created the Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area precludes the Park Service from approving any route through the park in the absence of an enabling act of Congress, which Park Superintendent John Donahue had said previously he would oppose. Feighner, alone among those whose properties have been impacted, has refused all of Tennessee Gas' offers of compensation for the use of
his land.
Across the Delaware River, the issue has galvanized residents of Milford, Pa., where a group called SaveCumminsHill.com has been fighting the project. Jolie DeFeis, a Milford resident who helped found that group, said she believes Tennessee Gas was sending a message by immediately beginning the clearing of trees on Feighner's property the day after getting the go-ahead to do so. "They have a seven-mile path to clear, yet the minute they get approval, they're on his property. It's a bullying tactic. George was the only one who couldn't be bought," DeFeis said. She called Feighner "everybody's father," someone whose plight she hoped ordinary people would relate to.
DeFeis said Monday's protest was being organized jointly by her group and another calling itself the Energy Justice Network, which bills itself as a grassroots organization committed to "globally sustainable and economically just pathways." The group, on its website, says it is committed to advocating for "communities of color, low-income communities, Indigenous Peoples and workers (who) are the first and most impacted by polluting and exploitative energy industries."
Feighner has said previously that he is not opposed to building the pipeline but opposes what he believes is Tennessee Gas' heavy-handed use of eminent domain against property owners like him. He believes the company is doing so to avoid the inconvenience of securing approval from the Park Service to use its existing right of way. DeFeis echoed that view, saying of Tennessee Gas that "they thought it would be easier to trample on the rights of private citizens than to deal with the Department of the Interior."
As he looked up on the hill Friday where workers were busy removing trees from his property, Feighner said it was all more than his wife, Ruth, could bear. "I remember when we first saw this place," he said. "It was a beautiful October afternoon. The leaves started turning golden and red, set against those huge pine trees and hemlock trees that they're now chopping down. We fell in love with the place, and my wife spent a decade gutting the inside and redoing it. It's really heart-rending to see what it's come to."
Beverly Budz, of North Jersey Pipeline Walkers, said, "I give him a lot of credit for being able to stand up against a billion-dollar gas company. This was supposed to be a place for him and his wife to retire to in their golden years, and now they're losing the fight to save one of the reasons that brought them here." Feighner summed up his frustation by saying: "Everybody agrees that this is a terrible thing to do, but nobody wants to do anything about it." "
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This is likely what parts of the area will look like once work commences:
http://njenviro.org/2011/08/18/this-is-what-gas-pipeline-construction-looks-like-part-2-of-2/

Asteriod to pass at a great distance from earth in outer space tonight; a meteor has exploded over central Russia in the Urals, injuring 950
... wonder if anything like that could happen here?

Asteroid 2012 DA14 will buzz Earth and make its closest approach over the Indian Ocean at a distance of over 17,000 miles away from the earth at 2:24 p.m. EST today - Feb. 15th.
An unrelated meteor caused much damage and devastation in central Russia earlier today - with reports stating it injured about a thousand people and many structures.

The NY Times published this story on Oct. 18th, 1934:
Meteor Falls in Jersey, Lighting Wide Area; CCC Youths Flee Hot Fragments at Sussex

On Oct. 17th, a meteor explosion had showered red hot fragments in the vicinity of High Point Park, greatly frightening the many Civilian Conservation Corps workers there who frantically dove for cover. That meteor had been observed as far away as in Newark, Camden, Sea Girt, Burlington, and other New Jersey communities.